Friday, June 4, 2010

i decided to write this entry in English as a tribute to former English teacher whom i have lost contact with since many years ago. I would like to wish you a Happy teachers day and i i know i was so many days late but i insist that Teachers day is everyday.Because teachers don't only come to work on 16th May,but EVERYDAY![oke.sbenenanya nak cover.dah lambat tu lambat la]

Anyway. this entry id dedicated to Cikgu Azhar omar,who at that time,always said that he was a brother to Misha Omar. I never fell for that.[or have i?].heheh. He was my English teacher in Pei Hwa back when i was in Form 2.. He,as i always remember,was the MAN THAT CHANGE MY PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS ENGLISH,COMPLETELY.

I have always been doing quite just okay in English back when i was in primary schools. But i would say,i was doing pretty ORDINARY. And when i was in form 1,a lousy English teacher made things worst and instilled hatred in me towards english. I remembered him being so pilih bulu[man,i should really work on my vocab] and pilih kasih. He only give his attention to those brainees who scored A everytime ;(u know,wear spectacles,raise hands everytime,ask questions a lot,and always remind the teacher of the homework he gave the other day;-my kind of enemy). Anyway,so in form 1,i came to hate English VERY MUCH. To me,English is tough because i hardly received any compliments for what i did. so the theory is ,if no one praise you,then you must be doing bad right?so there goes my self esteem.and i was once scolded by this teacher for faking his signature sebab dah dekat dua bulan tak hanta buku and orang lain dah banyak tanda kita punya tak tanda-tanda lagi. Yes,i was,a delinquent then.Nakal.

But as i got in form 2,Cikgu Azhar was our class teacher and taught English. He,was somewhat,different. Very,different. Not only funny,but he's also very kind. Now that i'm in the maktab and i learn all sorts of these pedagogical knowledge(tips and art of becoming a good teacher by learning phsychology and human behaviour)i began to noticed how good he was in his pedagogy. I mean,he always complimented and praised his students whenver they answer correctly or do something right. I,being among those frequently praised,suddenly found myself labelled "the teachers' pet' by my friends not long after he taught us in the year .

But he was kind to everyone!

Dear cikgu Azhar,i was wondering if you could remember when you ask the class about some stuff and noone answered. So i raised up my hands trying to act hero-of-the-day so i said i'll answer on behalf of everyone. You had me standing at the front and as soon as i finished answering you asked all of them to clap at me and say thanks. It was just a petty thing i did,but i felt like a Superman already.(Without the silly costume)

And do you remember when i was selected to represent the school to a Public speaking competition. I don't know if i'm right,but you used to seem so proud of me that you called me once,no,twice,t to give a speech in two of you different classes(not mine). It was embarrassing but i did it anyway,for your sake. And you were asking the students if they understood a single word i said and u said that i was going too fast and had me repeat those long texts all over again. It was funny how you trained me. But i appreciated it very much.

And remember by the end of 2003,in our class,you asked me if i would like to be the pen-friend of your daughter. you asked me to be her mentor and teach her English and write in English everytime in my letters. i agreed. I sent a mail,and received a reply but that was it. it just stopped with those two greeting letters because i lost the address of your home. [or propably if it was your SON instead of a daughter it would've lasted longer.hehe.just kidding]

and I remembered you used to call me zarina which is so far from my real name and when I asked you why you call me that,you said it was the name of your ex-student.Up till now,I still don’t know why on earth would you call me the name of your ex student and if I reminded you of her,in what aspects. It remains a mystery.[and I I’m not mistaken,I’m sure you have answered this, “ey,sukaati saya la nak panggil apa.”.haha.

but I remembered when you are about to say something serious you would call me by my real name. wonder why

anyway. everytime people asked me about my english,it always remind me of you. You may have not brought so much changes in terms of perfecting my english skills as i noticed you were quite easy on grammatical errors and not too strict and you only taught us for a year. a short time for even the slightest changes. But being considerate on marking and correcting errors is what makes the students less-hateful towards English. You corrected our errors in a way we won't feel offended. Anyhow,what so important about you is the fact that you have changed the way i looked at English. you instilled passion and interest towards english in me and,that,above all is more than enough to keep me striving for the better. And knowledge wise,you did taught me lots of things I never knew bfore!

Cikgu azhar.I asked some friends about you but since you moved out far away noone knows of your whereabout. i tried searching for your names too in Facebook but nothing came out. I even search your names Misha Omar's page but nothing came out too. of course,you were bluffing,i knew it but just to show that i made some efforts so that when we finally meet I could tell you about his and you’ll be terharu and treat me for a cup of the tarik.even though I despise the tarik.. heheh.

i looked around for you and i know why on earth would you suddenly be reading this blog but i just wanted to say that wherever you are,this ex student of yours will always pray for you safety and happiness.

someday,I want to be a teacher just like you,one that inspires and motivates,rather than one that tires people out and irritates.